In the book Matla ol-Shams (where the sun rises), a treasurer of the Qajar Dynasty compiled by Etemad ol-Saltaneh, the following comments appear on the Kurds of Khorasan.

 

Shah Abbas I drove 40,000 families of the Tchemishgazak Sub-Tribe, who had settled in Varamin for a few years, towards Khorasan Province. The families, settled in Chenaran, were called Kilovanloo, the others, settled in Ghoochan and Shiravan, were known as Zafaranloo. Another group under the name of Sharloo occupied the environs of Bojnoord.

The author of Tarikh-e Naderi (the History of Nader) explains that this move from Azarbaijan towards the east was for the purpose of driving the Ozbak and Turkaman Clans from the eastern borders of Iran.

Having played an important part in maintaining the independence of Iran, the Tribes of Khorasan can be divided into three main groups of Bechavand, Bavehnoor and Zafaranloo. The Kurdish Zafaranloo Tribes have 32 Sub-Tribes, each consisting of a number of Clans. Each Clan has several Toopehrs and each Toopehr has several families.

The Kurds of Khorasan, unlike the Kurds of western Iran, are followers of the Shia sect of Islam, and their language is also different from those of the Kurdistan Province; in their dialect they sometimes use Turkish words.

The Kurds of Khorasan are honest, hospitable, brave, diligent, patriotic and high spirited people. Music is among the essential elements of their life. Most of them play musical instruments like the sitar, dotar (string instruments), daf (a kind of drum) and flute.
They subsist by animal husbandry, farming and carpet weaving.